Eagle Watching - Marlin and Carolyn

Marlin and Carolyn spent the day in the Clarksville, MO area "eagle watching". They went to Winfield, MO first and saw one eagle but they were told to head to Clarksville if they wanted to see eagles. They saw at least 50 eagles in just two trees. The Mississippi River has large chunks of ice floating in it. They finished the day in Grafton, IL along the Great River Road.

The Lone Eagle in Winfield, MO

Carolyn in Clarksville, MO along the Mississippi RiverThe trees in Clarksville had many eagles in them.

Mississippi River along the Great River Road, Grafton, IL

Snowy Morning

I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures this morning of the gorgeous snow. We got somewhere between 6 -7 inches! The above magnolia is my favorite tree in the snow - it belongs to our next door neighbor and sits on the property line. It is beautiful in the snow.

Snowy NIght

We have about 5.5" of snow and it is still coming down. I snapped a couple of pics from the front door and back door (didn't venture out)! This is enough snow that we should see snowmen pop up everywhere tomorrow! No school today and no school tomorrow! I get to go since administrative staff still gets to go in but they are great catch-up days and the best part we dress very casual!

Front Porch Views

View of Nancy's van from the back garage door!

Cardinal Caravan

Saturday at the Mizzou game Eric and I walked through the Cardinal Caravan. We were near the front of the line and the players there were easy going and great! Eric gathered several autographs.

Kyle McClellan was a riot telling us about Hazelwood West and where he lives now (close to PHS) E-Man and Colby Rasmus -Colby told Eric to get around the table for a better picture :)

Rick Horton and Ken Dayley.

Brian Barden and Jess Todd. The cool thing is that we didn't pay for any of these autographs and the players were so nice!

OKAW Valley Conference Champs

The Monticello Middle Schooll 8th grade basketball team won their conference championship on Saturday, January 17th! Matt we are proud of you and your whole team. They now have a few non-conference games and begin regional playoffs February 3rd! As they say in Monticello, "It's a Great Day to be a Sage"! Good luck guys. Grandpa bought a purple wig and became the ultimate fan in this outfit!
Matt and his coach with the Okaw Valley Conference trophy. Funny note - Coach said let me get on my tip toes for the pic so I don't look so short!

Mizzou Basketball

Colton, Kyle, Eric and Aunt Nancy headed to Columbia today. We went to the Mizzou Basketball Game and Shakespeares Pizza - good times. Mizzou won 77-46!

Eric and I did the Cardinal Caravan before the game but that will be another post!

Jake the Chef by Lori

Over winter break Jake had been watching the Food Network and hewas watching the Alton Brown cooking show and he was making Gumbo...so Jake decided we should make some too. Rod bought the fixings and Jake and I cooked it. It was very good!!! Jake is back at Northern Illinois now and the wind chill there today is -40 degrees - good thing he got a parka at Christmas!

Jake and buddy enjoying the gumbo. Below are a couple pictures of the gumbo!

SCW Wins and the Pep Band Rocked!

It wasn't a very exciting basketball game - SCW ran away with the score and before the half the 2nd string was playing! The pep band was fun and they kept us in the game!

Kyle is in the white ball hat!

Kyle in Sunny Florida!

Wouldn't it be nice to be in Sunny Florida today at a Disney theme park? Here's a pic of Kyle on his band trip!

Kyle at the Gator Bowl!

Kyle is out there somewhere - Halftime show at the Gator Bowl!

The St. Charles West Marching Warriors won 9 awards! Way to go!

Kyle is back from Gator Bowl!

The buses rolled in this morning about 10:30 am to St Charles West High School ..

and our favorite band member came off the bus (after riding all night from Jacksonville, FL)Family and friends were there to greet the returning band members, who had a successful trip and won several awards!

Kyle was ready to eat so we headed to Culvers - he had a great time!

Mr. Ed's Quest for 70!

This past year my friend, Ed Tritschler, committed to trying 70 new things in his 70th year! Last night I (Nancy) witnessed his 70th - can you imagine he had never eaten a peanut butter sandwich. He made one and ate it last night - he didn't give it much of a rating! You can click on the Ed and Nancy Tritschler blog on the right and check out all the things he has done. Many of them are right in our area but we overlook them! Way to go ED! By the way, if you want an awesome tour of Busch stadium you need to go on the stadium tour but get Ed as your guide!